Kern County men convicted of conspiracy to commit murder

Two men were found guilty over the course of two days of attempting to ambush and murder a Dunnigan resident back in October 2012.

The District Attorney's Office reported that 55-year-old David Earl Bristow of Bakersfield was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, and also found the enhancements for personal use of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury last Friday by a Yolo jury.

Then, on Monday, a second Yolo County jury found 65-year-old Danny Joe Stearman of Shafter, guilty of those same charges, but found the enhancements for personal use of a firearm to not be true.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven reported that both Bristow and Stearman were tried together in a joint trail, but had separate juries before Judge Stephen Mock.

Mock is scheduled to sentenced Stearman on Feb. 14. Bristow's sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Both men face life in state prison.

The verdicts were the result of an Oct. 1, 2012 shooting and stabbing of Mark Cullen, 51, in Dunnigan.

Stearman and Bristow tried to kill Cullen just after midnight at County Road 1, or County Line Road, and CR-88 near Adams Vegetable Oils in Colusa County, where Cullen worked.

According to the DA's Office, Bristow and Stearman ambushed Cullen while he was on his way to work.